Across its 40-odd minutes, Joy As An Act of Resistance makes you want to laugh and cry and roar into the wind and cradle your nearest and dearest. It is a beautiful slice of humanity delivered by a group of men whose vulnerability and heart has become a guiding light in the fog for an increasing community of fans who don’t just want, but need this.

Overall, Joy as an Act of Resistance manages to plumb new depths for Idles -- that they've achieved another record in such a short space of time is admirable, let alone one that shines head and shoulders over the majority of their peers -- and it certainly upholds their status as one of the U.K.'s most exciting new acts.

IDLES believe that community spirit and togetherness will be what ultimately guides us closer to happiness as a whole, and in Joy As An Act Of Resistance they’ve created a monumental banner for the movement.

Joy as an Act of Resistance (and who, pray tell, can resist a title like that?) is one of the defining moments in modern punk and, with any justice, will stand as a testament to the working classes of the world and prove that new rock music is still being produced that can reach into your chest, tear out your heart-and then give you a great big hug that makes you feel like everything might just be alright in the end.

Joy as an Act of Resistance is a feature-length confirmation of what many have long suspected: channelled via frontman Joe Talbot, the Bristol five-piece are striking a midpoint between polemical and impactful, the grit of which few contemporary guitar bands have any odds of outdoing.

IDLES aren’t being macho or destructive in suggesting that we might have to tear it all down and start again if we’re going to truly come together. This is the jarring sound of sensitivity in a new age of chaos.

It’s a microcosm of Brexit England and Trump America, a distillation of pressure points that becomes audible with the ominous clickety-clacking drums and bass that usher in the staggering “Colossus.” And yet Talbot’s narrators find a way to rise above, and the songs turn strangely celebratory just when things seem to be bottoming out.

Idles offer so much more than mere spit and bile. The nuance of what’s on offer on this record contributes to the rich contemporary loosely threaded punk scene that has produced bands like Protomartyr, Priests and Algiers.

Idles won’t be for everybody: this isn’t good-time, aspirational, radio-friendly pop. But for anyone in need of music that articulates their concerns or helps them to work through their troubles--or anyone who simply appreciates blistering, intelligent punk--they might just be Britain’s most necessary band.

Over a visceral torrent of motorik punk-pop pummels recalling prime Pixies or McLusky, Joe hails his “beautiful immigrant” blood brother “Danny Nedelko” and celebrates his “mongrel” upbringing on “I’m Scum”--in a world run by bullish right-wing sex pests, his aggressive compassion is a potent antidote.

They’ve created an album that manages to combine grief, self-loathing and a realisation that life’s better played honest, with a fine-tuned, brutal sound: something like bent sheet metal being hammered straight. Yet it remains listenable, so very listenable.

This album will make you laugh, will make you cry and everything in between, its simply stunning. To create an album like this off the backThis album will make you laugh, will make you cry and everything in between, its simply stunning. To create an album like this off the back off the debut "Brutalism" is simply amazing and just goes to show why they have been dubbed not just "Britain's" most important band but the "Worlds" most important. Do yourself a favour listen to it from start to finish and then do it again!…Full Review »

The world is messed up. Rather than drown in this pessimism, IDLES have created an album that claps along with the absurdity of modern life. IThe world is messed up. Rather than drown in this pessimism, IDLES have created an album that claps along with the absurdity of modern life. I feel like this album—along with SHAME's 'Songs of Praise—has set the benchmark in 2018 for a new era of intelligent punk-influenced guitar rock with a political and social conscience.…Full Review »

"You're not a man you're a gland..." - Is an excerpt from this one that had me laughing and marked the point where I realized how good this"You're not a man you're a gland..." - Is an excerpt from this one that had me laughing and marked the point where I realized how good this project really was. Dealing in absolutes as I usually do, this one's a 10. Thanks.…Full Review »